BBC (April 3, 2010)
"A 12-year-old US schoolgirl is suing the New York City authorities for $1m (£650,000) in damages after she was arrested for writing on her desk.
"Alexa Gonzalez was led out of her school in handcuffs by police after she was caught scribbling a message to her friends with an erasable, green marker.
"Miss Gonzalez and her mother are suing the police and education departments in New York City.
"They are claiming for excessive use of force and violation of her rights.
"Miss Gonzalez was caught scribbling 'I love my friends Abby and Faith' on her desk during a Spanish class in February...."
Well, from a certain point of view, I can see why the school staff wanted to be protected from 'that sort of person.' To their credit, now that they're making international news, school officials are blaming the police.
And this is one of the reasons I decided to give my kids the option of being home schooled from grade 7 up. All of them took me and my wife up on it.
That's right: I'm one of those people. The ones who home school their kids.
Related posts:
- "Lemming Tracks: Home Schooling isn't What You May Think"
(March 31, 2010) - "Dead Monkeys, Emotions, and Studying the News"
(March 19, 2010) - "Athletes, Social Media, Rules and the 2010 Olympics"
(February 6, 2010) - "Pat Robertson, the Devil, Haiti, and an Alternate Reality?"
(January 14, 2010) - "Yogi Yorgesson's 'I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas' and the Hamms Bear"
(December 15, 2009)
2 comments:
One thing that had me puzzled was that the girl and her mom (who was not allowed into the police station with her daughter, by the way) have different last names. Then I saw a picture. I'm pretty sure they aren't related by blood.
Cute girl, too. I hope she doesn't become too jaded from this incident.
Brigid,
I don't know the family background there - but they may not be. Adoption has been an option for quite a long time. Also, naming conventions: have changed over time; vary from culture; and from even from family to family.
American culture(s) have gone through a lot of change - with no end in sight. Which, in some ways is good news.
I haven't seen photos (and would appreciate a link) - but remember what our family is like. And we're a fairly homogeneous set of Celto-European Americans. If that wasn't a word before: it is now.
Wait another few generations, and our family reunions will look like a U.N. meeting.
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